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1 Puerto Rico: The Economics of Status Glenn P. Jenkins Queen s University, Kingston, Canada. Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus. J. Tomas Hexner Chairman of Hex, Inc. Development Discussion Paper Number: Abstract This paper attempts to present an analysis of the economic and fiscal dimensions of Puerto Rican status. The status debate in Puerto Rico has, historically, been heavily concentrated in political analysis of the status options: commonwealth, statehood and independence. The document s key conclusion is that status has fundamental economic and fiscal implications for the island and for the United States. Statehood would stimulate greater investment and more rapid economic growth through full integration with the U.S. economy and a more stable investment climate. An Analysis of Puerto Rico s potential for convergence in growth of income to that of the US indicates that the economic policies improved by statehood would spur faster growth through full integration with the U.S. economy. The present Commonwealth status, in addition to promoting dependence - oriented development, has kept Puerto Rico from catching up with the rest of the U.S. In terms its fiscal implications, statehood would actually have been a net benefit to the U.S. Treasury, by imposing income taxes on firms and individuals who now do not paid. Puerto Rico and U.S. citizens living there would benefit from statehood through increased federal transfers and being brought into equality with counterparts on the mainland. Additional transfers to Puerto Rico under statehood would have been outweighed by increased tax revenues. Statehood would eliminate Puerto Rico s nebulous and uncertain political status which will continue to hinder investment in a future of increasing globalization. Statehood would clearly define Puerto Rico as a domestic rather than foreign location in the eyes of investors, and distinguish it from other developing countries in the region as competition for investment intensifies. Prepared for: The Citizens Educational Foundation JEL code(s): H11 Key words: Puerto Rico, economic status, commonwealth, economic growth, economic reform.

2 Puerto Rico: The Economics of Status J. Tomas Hexner Glenn Jenkins J. Tomas Hexner is the Chairman of Hex, Inc. Glenn Jenkins is the Director of the International Tax Program at Harvard Law School and Fellow of the Harvard Institute for International Development. Prepared for the Citizens Educational Foundation

6 Puerto Rico: The Economic Implications of Status Abstract This paper attempts to present an analysis of the economic and fiscal dimensions of Puerto Rican status. The status debate in Puerto Rico has, historically, been heavily concentrated in political analysis of the status options: commonwealth, statehood and independence. The document s key conclusion is that status has fundamental economic and fiscal implications for the island and for the United States. Statehood would stimulate greater investment and more rapid economic growth through full integration with the U.S. economy and a more stable investment climate. Further, statehood would actually have been a net benefit over commonwealth for the U.S. Treasury. From a strategic perspective, statehood would eliminate the possibility of additional costly and ineffective subsidies and tax breaks which would continue to drain the U.S. Treasury. An Analysis of Puerto Rico s potential for convergence in growth of income to that of the US indicates that the economic policies improved by statehood would spur faster growth through full integration with the U.S. economy. The present Commonwealth status, in addition to promoting dependence - oriented development, has kept Puerto Rico from catching up with the rest of the U.S. In terms its fiscal implications, statehood would actually have been a net benefit to the U.S. Treasury, by imposing income taxes on firms and individuals who now do not paid. Puerto Rico and U.S. citizens living there would benefit from statehood through increased federal transfers and being brought into equality with counterparts on the mainland. Additional transfers to Puerto Rico under statehood would have been outweighed by increased tax revenues. Statehood would eliminate Puerto Rico s nebulous and uncertain political status which will continue to hinder investment in a future of increasing globalization. Statehood would clearly define Puerto Rico as a domestic rather than foreign location in the eyes of investors, and distinguish it from other developing countries in the region as competition for investment intensifies. Puerto Rico: The Economic and Fiscal Dimensions page 1

7 I. Background A. Political Status Puerto Rico became an unincorporated territory of the United States in 1898 at the end of the Spanish-American War. An unincorporated territory is one to which all provisions of the Constitution had not been expressly extended. In 1952, the island became one of three commonwealth territories in recent U.S. history. The Philippines and Northern Marianas were also given commonwealth status as territories. Commonwealth status has involved self-government in internal affairs for Puerto Rico, although the U.S Congress retains full authority to determine the status of the territory and apply federal law as it deems appropriate. In the Jones Act of 1917, Puerto Ricans became citizens of the United States. While they are U.S. citizens, Puerto Ricans cannot participate in U.S. elections. They have no vote in presidential elections and their representative in the Congress is a Resident Commissioner with a voice, but no vote. As a territory of the United States, Puerto Rico operates under the U.S. judicial, monetary, and tariff systems, and is profoundly affected by, yet largely excluded from, the U.S. income tax system. 1 Puerto Ricans do not pay federal income tax, and corporations based in Puerto Rico do not pay federal corporate tax. Commonwealth status implies that, like any U.S. state, important determinations can be made by Puerto Rico s local legislature though many vital decisions, particularly concerning the economy, remain with the U.S. Congress. For instance, the operation of educational institutions and the election of a Governor are under local Puerto Rican jurisdiction, but federal tax credits and federal transfers are under the domain of the U.S. Congress, in which Puerto Rico has no vote. Discussions of Puerto Rico s political status have involved two options in addition to commonwealth: independence and statehood. Under independence, Puerto Rico would become a fully sovereign nation with jurisdiction over its internal affairs and external relations. Independence would involve a termination of U.S. citizenship for persons born in a new Puerto Rican nation, and an election between U.S. or Puerto Rican citizenship for those now living. Under statehood, Puerto Rico would become the 51st state of the Union and would be subject to the same statutes as current U.S. states, with birthright citizenship for Puerto Rican residents. The transition to statehood would have to be defined through both Congressional and Puerto Rican legislation. Statehood would extend all constitutional guarantees to Puerto Ricans, as well as the right to vote in federal elections and the obligation to pay federal income taxes. 1 Eliezer Curet, Puerto Rico: Development by Integration to the U.S. 1986, Editorial Cultural, Puerto Rico, page 35. Puerto Rico: The Economic and Fiscal Dimensions page 2

8 Puerto Ricans have recently had the opportunity to express their preferences for the island s status through popular plebiscites. In 1967, commonwealth won 60 percent of the vote and statehood 39%, although low voter turn-out and a boycott by some supporters of the independence and statehood options may have underestimated support for statehood. The most recent plebiscite was held in November of 1993 when commonwealth won 48 percent of the vote and statehood garnered 46 percent. 2 As these statistics indicate, popular support for each of the status options has varied across time, although showing an increasing trend towards statehood. B. A History of New Deal, Government-Led Development Understanding the current economic dynamics in Puerto Rico requires some knowledge of the island s post WWII history. In 1950, Puerto Rico had just come through a decade of agricultural primacy in its economy and Operation Bootstrap was in full gear. Operation Bootstrap was a new economic development strategy for Puerto Rico which focused on the promotion of direct private capital investment and the establishment of private manufacturing enterprises for export to the U.S. 3 Under Operation Bootstrap, the focus of development was on external, mainly U.S., investment that would, it was hoped, stimulate Puerto Rico s economy, increase employment and boost personal incomes. Consistent with the development strategies of this time, it was thought that Puerto Rico s public sector should lead and support its private sector. Thus, Puerto Rico s economic strategy in the 1950 s was based on the creation of government development agencies and a public sector with broad jurisdiction over goods and services typically provided by the private sector in more developed countries. First, the government development agency Fomento (meaning promotion in Spanish) actively recruited industry to locate in Puerto Rico. Fomento used the incentives of inexpensive labor, 4 industrial parks, and tax incentives from the U.S. to attract manufacturing firms. Fomento was quite successful in effecting the type of centralized planning advocated by 1950 s and 1960 s development economics. Second, public corporations were allowed to develop and serve government and quasi-government functions with greater financing and management flexibility than traditional government agencies. Most public corporations were intended to collect some of their operating expenses from charges for their services and products, although public corporations have indeed relied upon Puerto Rico s general fund for appropriations. 2 Robert Friedman, Young bill clears another hurdle, The San Juan Star, May 22, Eliezer Curet, Puerto Rico: Development by Integration to the U.S. Editorial Cultural, Puerto Rico, 1986, page Puerto Rican average wages were 30 percent of American wages in Fernando Lefort, Is Puerto Rico Converging to the United States? Working Paper 1003, International Tax Program, Harvard University, November Puerto Rico: The Economic and Fiscal Dimensions page 3

9 Puerto Rico's economy experienced healthy growth during this transition from an agriculture-based economy to a manufacturing-based economy. Between 1950 and 1958, Puerto Rico experienced a 4.6 percent average annual growth rate in real GNP. From 1959 to 1974, real GNP expanded at an average annual rate of 6.5 percent. Productivity, measured by average real GDP per person employed, grew at 5.6 percent between 1950 and 1958, then by 5.2 percent between 1959 and The island was perceived to be a development success. The record of economic performance did not continue, although its reputation as a model for development persisted. For all intents and purposes, Puerto Rico has continued under the Operation Bootstrap mode of development to the present. As economies around the world grew and began applying new lessons, development policy for Puerto Rico continued to rely on government-led initiatives. That is, even after other countries had learned that private sector-driven, market-based economies produced deeper and more sustainable growth, Puerto Rico continued in the New Deal tradition. If anything, the Puerto Rican government intruded even further into the economy, adopting a concerted program of government intervention which included the take-over of the telephone company, a shipping line, and the creation of a centralized purchasing entity. In retrospect, Puerto Rico s economic development strategy appears to have been blind to reality. Low labor costs were no longer an incentive to invest in Puerto Rico. Public sector corporations thoughout the world proved mediocre performers at best. Finally, the reliance on, and hope for, federal tax incentives generated a corporate welfare dependence which still exists today. From the mid-1970s, Puerto Rico s economy began to experience stagnation, in striking contrast to the growth of the previous two decades. Real GNP growth, for example, slowed to an annual rate of only 1.7 percent between 1975 and While the U.S. recovered from the oil shock in 1973, Puerto Rico did not. Further, Puerto Rico stopped converging with the U.S. and began to converge with the developing economies of Latin America and the Caribbean. In Section IV it is observed that Puerto Rico s commonwealth status hindered growth and kept it from converging with the U.S. economy. Investment in the Puerto Rican economy also dropped sharply during the early 1970 s, as measured in the investment share of GDP. While it was hoped that domestic capital would replace the initial burst of external investment encouraged by Operation Bootstrap, the domestic replacement never materialized and the commonwealth came to rely on tax induced, external investment. Figure 1 indicates that investment dropped from 29% of GDP during the period 1955 to 1972, to 14% in Eliezer Curet, Puerto Rico: Development by Integration to the U.S. Editorial Cultural, Puerto Rico, 1986, pp. 44, In Puerto Rico, there is a significant difference between GDP and gross product (GP), which is similar to GNP for independent nations. The difference is due to the inclusion in GDP of section 936 profits that are repatriated to the mainland. Thus, GP will be used in most cases to assess the economy of Puerto Rico. 7 Fernando Lefort, Is Puerto Rico Converging with the United States, Working Paper 1003, International Tax Program, Harvard Law School, November 1997, page 22. Puerto Rico: The Economic and Fiscal Dimensions page 4

10 Figure A1.2Figure 1 Investment Puerto as Rico: a Share of GDP in Puerto Rico Investment Share of GDP 33.5% 28.5% 23.5% 18.5% 13.5% 8.5% Although the island seemed a successful example of economic development in the first phase of its transition, the Puerto Rican economy in the 1970 s and 1980 s languished with low growth rates and unemployment rates ranging from 10 to over 22 percent. 8 It became clear that the development strategy which had worked for Puerto Rico in the 1950 s was no longer effective in the 1970 s. As slow growth persisted through the 1970 s, 1980 s and into the 1990 s, the island s continued reliance on an outdated development model adopted in the 1950 s became even more obviously inadequate. Over time, private sector capacity indeed developed on the island with the establishment of sophisticated financial institutions, world-class hotels, and a mature services sector. Many of the public corporations and government development agencies, which had originally been charged with the provision of goods and services, had become superfluous with the growth of the private sector. The Puerto Rican government apparatus, it seemed, had stepped over the line from being a facilitator of growth to an impediment to growth. 8 Ibid. at page 52, table 7. Puerto Rico: The Economic and Fiscal Dimensions page 5

11 Nevertheless, largely because Puerto Rico s economy receives limited exposure on the mainland, its 1950 s reputation as a model for stimulating and achieving economic growth continued in the minds of most Americans. This reputation has been reinforced by the lobbying efforts of major electronics and pharmaceutical corporations, who have benefited from costly tax breaks for U.S. companies operating on the island. 9 Puerto Rican economic success looks good when it is compared with other Caribbean islands and Latin America, instead of with the fifty states. Indeed, in comparison with these countries, Puerto Rico has been economically vibrant. Of 22 Latin American and Caribbean countries on which the World Bank reported data, Puerto Rico s per capita GNP of $3479 ranked third in Its real annual growth rate in GNP between 1960 and 1970 of 3.7 percent also ranked third highest among these countries. However, Puerto Rico s GDP growth rate during dropped to almost half its level during ; during the period 1970 to 1980, eleven Latin American and Caribbean countries outperformed Puerto Rico. 10 It must be remembered, however, that the residents of Puerto Rico are US citizens with rights to unrestricted travel to and from the mainland, and the economy of Puerto Rico is virtually integrated with the United States. Accordingly, Puerto Rico s economic performance should be compared with the 50 U.S. states rather than with the economies of the Caribbean and Latin America, or with any other developing nation. The result of the Puerto Rico-United States comparison reveals the paucity of economic progress on the island. The island s 1995 per capita personal income of $7296 was less than half of Mississippi s, the poorest U.S. state, with per capita personal income of $18,352 in the same year. 11 To appreciate the sensitivity of the Puerto Rican economy to the U.S. Congress and federal agencies, the reader should be aware of the tax breaks provided to U.S. corporations under Section 936 of the Internal Revenue Code and the 1990 Congressional Budget Office report, 12 which are described below. 9 See William J. Baumol and Edward N. Wolff, Catching up in the postwar period: Puerto Rico as the fifth tiger, World Development 24(5): p 869(17), World Bank, World Development Report 1982, New York: Oxford University Press, 1982, Tables 1,2,3; and Puerto Rico Planning Board, Economic Report to the Governor, 1984, San Juan: Puerto Rico Planning Board, 1985, Table 1. Both cited in Eliezer Curet, Puerto Rico: Development by Integration to the U.S. Editorial Cultural, Puerto Rico, 1986, page Puerto Rico figures listed in Government of Puerto Rico, Planning Office, "Economic Report to the Governor, 1995." Mississippi figures listed in Moynihan, Daniel Patrick, et al., The Federal Budget and the States, FY 1995, Cambridge, MA: Taubman Center for State and Local Government, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and the Office of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senate, U.S. Congressional Budget Office, Potential Economic Impacts of Changes in Puerto Rico s Status under S. 712, prepared for the Senate Finance Committee, April 1990 Puerto Rico: The Economic and Fiscal Dimensions page 6

12 C. Section 936 Tax Credits Tax incentives played a central role in the original post-world War II development of Puerto Rico. The tax subsidy found in Section 936 of the federal Internal Revenue Code has been in effect on the island, in some form, since 1921, though its significance as a development tool increased in the post-war period. Section 936 and its forerunners have largely exempted U.S. corporations from paying federal tax on income earned by their Puerto Rican subsidiaries. Puerto Rico has a parallel tax subsidy program effectively exempting 936 corporations from Puerto Rican income taxes as well. With respect to Puerto Rico, section 936 and its predecessors were intended to spur development of labor-intensive industries in Puerto Rico and improve the island s high unemployment rates. This made some sense because, from 1950 to 1960, Puerto Rico was a source of inexpensive labor relative to the mainland and was attractive to mainland manufacturers. After 1960, however, countries such as South Korea, the Dominican Republic and Taiwan replaced Puerto Rico as centers for manufacturing, largely by offering cheaper labor. However, the tax counsel of various Fortune 500 corporations identified a tremendous bottom-line bonanza in section 936. They realized that section 936 made Puerto Rico a tax haven for capital intensive manufacturing, particularly of proprietary products. Thus, contrary to its original purpose, section 936 and its predecessors ultimately attracted capital-intensive manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, electronics, and apparel. A skewed economic composition has resulted, in which profits from manufacturing comprise a larger part of Puerto Rico s GDP than in any other U.S. state. 13 Given the original intention of improving employment prospects through fostering laborintensive industries, the opposite results were actually achieved. Even for historical purposes it is worth examining how costly and ineffective section 936 proved to be. In 1989, section 936 cost the US Treasury $2.37 billion, or $22,375 per 936 employee. Because the average annual wage in a corporation receiving section 936 credits was only $20,540 in 1989, the U.S. Treasury was paying $1835 more per employee in tax losses than the employee received in salary from his or her employment. 14 The pharmaceutical industry received even more in tax benefits for each job. A 1992 General Accounting Office Report found that drug companies with manufacturing operations in Puerto Rico received tax benefits worth $72,788 for each job paying an average of $26, In 1995, the manufacturing sector made up 41.8 percent of Puerto Rico s GDP. Puerto Rico Planning Board, Economic Report to the Governor, In 1992, the most recent year for which the data is available, the manufacturing sector comprised 30.6 percent of the gross state product. No other state s manufacturing sector was as large relative to its gross state product. Statistical Abstract of the U.S., 1996, Table 690, page Hexner et al., Puerto Rican Statehood: A Precondition to Sound Economic Growth, Figures for For more information, see 6 Tax Notes International 519, March 1, Puerto Rico: The Economic and Fiscal Dimensions page 7

13 Section 936 indeed proved to be a perverse economic tool. It created a development strategy founded on the hypothesis that if section 936 were to be eliminated, which would occur under statehood, the Puerto Rican economy would collapse. However, the U.S. Congress did act to repeal section 936 over time, and the economy is now performing even better. In 1993, bipartisan concern over corporate welfare and the budget deficit renewed interest in the political status of Puerto Rico and lawmakers voted to reduce and later to phase out so-called section 936 tax breaks to U.S. corporations which cost the Treasury over $3.8 billion by The repeal of subsidies which had been considered sacrosanct necessitated a change in economic thinking about the status of Puerto Rico, and has created the opportunity to analyze statehood in a new light. D. The 1990 Congressional Budget Office Report on Puerto Rico The notion that the Puerto Rican economy would virtually collapse without section 936 was reinforced by the 1990 release of a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report that assessed the impact of statehood on the Puerto Rican economy. The CBO report was initiated in response to Senate Bill S. 712 which would have made binding the results of a 1991 referendum to determine the island s political status. The CBO was asked to estimate how a change in Puerto Rico s status, if it were made under the stipulations of the [then] current version of S. 712, would affect the island economy over the remainder of the decade. 16 The CBO s concept of Puerto Rico s economy under statehood was based primarily on the removal of section 936 tax benefits and changes in federal transfers to the island. However, the assumptions underlying the CBO s projections are unrealistic in several key respects. The model made no allowance for the prospect that the Puerto Rican government could alter its economic strategy to compensate for the termination of 936. It also failed to take account of investors changed perceptions of Puerto Rico as a state both fully integrated politically and economically with the United States. The results of the CBO experiment indicated that, under statehood, real gross product would decrease by 10 to 15 percent, and that investments claiming 936 benefits would drop by 62 to 73 percent points. Additionally, they estimated an increase in the unemployment rate of 4 to 7 percentage points. 17 The extremity of the results is due not only to unrealistic assumptions, but to the specifications of the macro-econometric model which the CBO employed. 16 U.S. Congressional Budget Office, Potential Economic Impacts of Changes in Puerto Rico s Status under S. 712, prepared for the Senate Finance Committee, April Diagnostic Policy Center, Economic Policy Analysis for Puerto Rico Using a General Equilibrium Model, March Puerto Rico: The Economic and Fiscal Dimensions page 8

14 When the identical scenario is simulated using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model more sensitive to and appropriate for the realities of Puerto Rico s economy, 18 the economic impact is much less dramatic. Without taking account of any adjustments in economic policy or investment, the identical scenario conducted on the CGE model finds that real gross product drops by 5.6 percent, instead of the CBO s 10 to 15 percent. 19 Section 936 investments drop by 63.3 percent under the CGE model, which is congruous with the CBO s result. 20 Employment is decrease by 2.3 percentage points, 21 significantly less than the CBO s 4 to 7 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate. While the CGE simulations still yield negative impacts, the results are much more modest than those generated by the CBO s macro-econometric model. 22 They indicate a resiliency and capacity in the Puerto Rican economy which would not crumble with the removal of section 936. In fact, the CGE model suggests that sensible policy measures by the Puerto Rican government could readily compensate for the loss of section 936. E. Recent Changes and Ideas As in the past, much of what is now happening in the Puerto Rican economy has its roots in events on the U.S. mainland. The push for a balanced budget in the 1990 s made the $3.8 billion tax credit under section 936 a logical target in the U.S. Congress. 23 In spite of substantial efforts to persuade lawmakers that reducing or repealing section 936 subsidies would destroy the Puerto Rican economy, Congress took the first steps in 1993 to limit the amount of tax credit that U.S. corporations could claim under section 936. Then, in the 1996 Small Business Job Protection Act, Congress fully eliminated 936 benefits for new claimants and phased out benefits for existing recipients over the next 10 years. 24 Puerto Rico's economy has not been devastated by the section 936 repeal and phase-out. Key economic indicators point to the resiliency of the Puerto Rican economy. Total employment increased 3.9 percent from FY 1995 to FY 1996, and total employment during the first seven months of FY 1997 increased 3.7 percent over the same period of FY Real gross product increased by 3.4 percent from 1994 to 1995, by 3.1 percent from 1995 to 1996, and by a projected 2.8 percent from 1996 to The fact is that section 936 is in the process of phase-out and, although the grand-fathering 18 A CGE model allows for sectoral disaggregation, incorporates income expenditure relationships, and allows prices to be flexible. The sectoral disaggregation feature is especially important for analysis of Puerto Rico s economy since it is led by the manufacturing sector, which responds differently than do smaller sectors to stimuli in the economic environment. See Appendix I for greater detail. 19 Diagnostic Policy Center, An Economic Policy Model (CGE) for Puerto Rico: Results from Three Simulations, April 1996, page Ibid Ibid. at 59. Ibid. 23 The figure given is for U.S. Department of Treasury, Statistics of Income Bulletin, Spring 1997, page That is, there are now no new investments under section 936 although existing 936 investment will continue to be eligible for the tax credit over the 10 year phase-out period. Puerto Rico: The Economic and Fiscal Dimensions page 9

15 period is not yet complete, Puerto Rico remains economically intact. Section 936 has been repealed, and CBO s projections of its impact now appear to be exaggerated in light of Puerto Rico s economic performance. The current tone of economic discourse on the island is a start down a promising path, which is confirmed in more frequent calls for the Puerto Rican government to change its role from a provider of services and regulator of industry to a facilitator of private sector development. 25 Although this rhetoric is commendable, the past lack of action surrounding new ideas is notable. Several initiatives have actually gone beyond the level of rhetoric and been put into practice, because of efforts both on the mainland and in Puerto Rico. These efforts include: the U.S. Congress action on section 936 of the Internal Revenue Code, repealing the credit for new investments and phasing it out over 10 years for existing investments, the Governor of Puerto Rico s measures to improve the tax structure, reform the public sector, and encourage investment in tourism, and the Governor of Puerto Rico s initiation of privatization in management and ownership of some public corporations. 25 A Strategy for the Development, Administration, and Financing of Infrastructure Investment in Puerto Rico, Council on Planning Strategy for the Private Sector in Puerto Rico and the Government Promotion Bank for Puerto Rico. Phase 1, Volume 1. April W. Lockwood Benet & Associates. Puerto Rico: The Economic and Fiscal Dimensions page 10

16 II. Puerto Rico and Modern Economic Growth Analysis A. A New Perspective The convergence theory of economic growth predicts that the rate at which an economy grows during its transition to the steady state is proportional to its distance from that steady state - the further the distance, the faster the growth, and vice versa. Considering that the US is the largest and wealthiest economy in the world, it is not surprising that during the post war period Puerto Rico linked itself with the US and outperformed other economies with lower steady state levels of per capita income. The principal conclusion of this research is that the economy of Puerto Rico is no longer converging to the steady state level of per capita income of the United States. A recent paper by Fernando Lefort uses econometric analysis to demonstrate that Puerto Rico s economy has been diverging away from the U.S. and shows no signs of catching up. 26 Three other significant results from the research are: The integrating effect of statehood is actually a vital economic, and not just political, variable. In fact, states grow faster than territories because of their complete economic integration with the U.S. economy. Puerto Rico s commonwealth status explains why it has failed to converge towards the U.S. Without statehood, Puerto Rico will never evolve sufficient economic strength to converge with the mainland economy. Because of the lack of economic convergence, statehood is, economically, a sink or swim matter. Commonwealth has exacted an enormous cost for the Puerto Rican people. In 1994, the average Puerto Rican would have been making $6000 more per year had Puerto Rico been converging to the US economy like the other low-income states. Rather than asking about the costs of statehood, modern growth analysis demonstrates that the opposite question should be asked: what has been the cost of commonwealth. B. Convergence theory and political status The ideas forming our assessment of the cost of commonwealth to Puerto Rico are known as convergence growth theory. 27 Applied to Puerto Rico, these ideas help formulate an answer to our question about the opportunity costs of commonwealth to Puerto Rico. Historically, U.S. states have experienced growth rates 2% higher than 26 Fernando Lefort, Is Puerto Rico Converging to the United States, Working Paper No. 1003, International Tax Program, Harvard Law School, Harvard University, November, For more on convergence theory, see Robert Barro & Xavier Salai-I-Martin (1992) Convergence, Journal of Political Economy, 100 (April): and G. Mankiw, D. Romer, and D.N. Weil (1992) A Contribution to the Empirics of Growth, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 108: Puerto Rico: The Economic and Fiscal Dimensions page 11

17 territories. 28 This faster growth occurs because the economies of U.S. states are sufficiently integrated that they share similar growth frontiers. That is, U.S. states are converging to a similar endpoint. When a territory becomes a state, its economy becomes much more integrated with the other states than it could have been as a territory. Thus, in addition to the growth a territory is already experiencing on its own, it can expect additional economic expansion on the basis of becoming a state. As one economy begins to converge toward another wealthier economy, it will initially experience higher growth rates as it catches up and lessens the gap in per capita income levels between itself and the more developed economy. For this reason, a 3.5 percent higher growth rate is an appropriate estimate of the additional growth that a territory would at first experience as a result of its economic integration with the other U.S. states Evidence for Convergence in the United States There is strong evidence for convergence among the regions of the U.S. States with lower initial incomes have grown faster than wealthier states. Lefort reviews the strong statistical evidence for convergence among the U.S. states over time and cites some examples: 30 South Carolina, the poorest state, had 22.4 percent of the per capita income of New York in 1929, [though] by 1990 this ratio had become 71.8 percent. Mississippi was the poorest state in It had 22 percent of the per capita income of Delaware, then the wealthiest state in America. By 1990, Mississippi, still the poorest state, already had 50 percent of the income of the wealthiest state, now Connecticut. In 50 years, Mississippi has been able to reduce by half the distance that separates it from the wealthiest states. Given the degree of cultural and economic integration among the different states, the convergence effect must be the main reason that Mississippi grew at a rate twice as high, on average, as that of the much wealthier Northeastern states during the last 50 years. 28 Fernando Lefort, Is Puerto Rico Converging to the United States, Working Paper No. 1003, International Tax Program, Harvard Law School, Harvard University, November Ibid. at page Ibid. Puerto Rico: The Economic and Fiscal Dimensions page 12

18 2. Evidence for Convergence in the European Union There is also growing evidence for convergence among the countries of Europe. Market reform and the political and economic integration effected by the European Union have helped to narrow the gap between more and less developed nations. Analysis of regions within the EU also shows a decline in inequality over time. A combination of market reforms and integration in the EEC have enabled Spain and Portugal to grow faster than their wealthier European counterparts over the past ten to fifteen years. 31 A recent analysis of Portugese economic growth indicates that Portugal has been catching up with the EU since the early 1950 s, with more rapid convergence occurring after 1986 when the country became a full EU member. 32 A review of economic growth data by European region by Robert Leonardi of the London School of Economics found evidence for four decades of convergence since the 1950 s. 33 Leonardi finds a consistent pattern of reduction in inequality between the core and peripheral regions in the EU over time. C. Hawaiian Convergence under Statehood The economic performance of Hawaii, one of the most recent states, provides a demonstration of the benefits of statehood. The Hawaiian economy grew significantly faster under statehood than as a territory, as it began to integrate with the larger and more developed U.S. economy. Annual increases in real gross state product jumped from 4% during the period 1949 to 1958, to almost 7% in the Great Hawaiian Boom from 1958 to 1973, coinciding with the move to statehood. 34 As Thomas Kemper Hitch notes in his economic history of Hawaii, this probably set an all-time record for sustained high-level expansion for any state or region in the nation. 35 Figure 2 below illustrates the rapid growth which Hawaii experienced after statehood Larre, B. and R. Torres, Is Convergence a Spontaneous Process? The Experience of Spain, Portugal, and Greece, OECD Economic Studies, 16, Barros, Pedro Pita, and Nuno Groupa, Portugal-European Union Convergence: Some Evidence, European Journal of Political Economy, 12(1996): Leonardi, Robert, Convergence, Cohesion, and Integration in the European Union, London: St. Martins Press, 1996, p Hawaiian growth figures cited in Thomas Kemper Hitch (1992), Islands in Transition: The Past, Present, and Future of Hawaii s Economy, pp Ibid. at page Personal income figures in 1982/1984 dollars using Honolulu Consumer Price Index, from Robert C. Schmitt, Historical Statistics of Hawaii, The University Press of Hawaii: Honolulu, 1977, page 167, Table 6.3, Personal Income and Disposable Income, Total and Per Capita, Puerto Rico: The Economic and Fiscal Dimensions page 13

19 Figure 2 Hawaiian Personal Income, /1984 Dollars Year Hawaiian growth, as expected, increased faster than the United States as it caught up with the more affluent economy. Real growth rates in Hawaii averaged 6.31% during the period after the move to statehood, 1958 to 1973, far exceeding the still impressive U.S. growth rate during the same period of 4.4%. 37 External investment in Hawaii soared after statehood. The number of firms doing business in Hawaii increased sixfold from 311 in 1955 to 1,916 in Hawaii s best known business economist, Hitch writes that this increase without statehood would have taken a generation or two to achieve. 38 Tourism received a similar boost from statehood: yearly visitors to Hawaii increased fifteenfold between 1958 and 1973, from 171,000 to 2,631,000, and averaged a 20 percent per year increase for 15 years. 39 Tourism spending in Hawaii expanded at a real annual growth rate of 15.1% during the same period, increasing from 5.8% of the economy before statehood to 19% in Tourism presently comprises approximately 23% of the Hawaiian economy Real GDP in the United States expanded at an average annual rate of 4.4% during the period 1959 to Figures from National Bureau of Economic Analysis, Survey of Current Business, August 1997, Summary of National Income and Product Series, , Table 2a. Hawaiian growth figures cited in Thomas Kemper Hitch (1992), Islands in Transition: The Past, Present, and Future of Hawaii s Economy, p. 172, based on gross product figures from Robert Schmitt, Historical Statistics of Hawaii, p. 164, Table Hitch, Islands in Transition: The Past, Present, and Future of Hawaii s Economy, p Ibid. at page Hawaii Visitors Bureau, 1986 Annual Research Report, page 1, and records. Listed in State of Hawaii Data Book, 1996, Table 7.21, Estimated Visitor Expenditures: , and available on the World Wide Web at 41 The Economic Impact of Tourism in Hawaii: An Application of The Hawaii Input -Output Model, Hawaii s Economy: A Quarterly Report from the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism, First Quarter 1996, Table 3, page 7. Data derived from the Department s Input-Output Model of the Hawaiian Economy. Puerto Rico: The Economic and Fiscal Dimensions page 14

20 Hitch concludes that statehood was one of the key drivers of the Great Hawaiian Boom. He notes that, prior to statehood, most people knew little about the islands and ignorance about Hawaii permeated most American businesses. i Hitch observes that statehood created invaluable exposure for the islands on the U.S. mainland: Statehood was worth a billion dollars of advertising and promotion for Hawaii. Suddenly we were the fiftieth state, and thousands upon thousands of national business firms with activities all over the country began asking themselves why they weren t doing business in Hawaii. Those who were already doing such business generally transferred the Hawaii market program out of the foreign department and put it in the domestic department. [emphasis added.] 42 D. Commonwealth as a Block to Puerto Rico s Convergence with the U.S. The projections of convergence theory provide a framework for dismantling the false tenets of conventional wisdom. One aspect of this conventional wisdom has held that Puerto Rico s success relative to other Caribbean islands was primarily attributable to its commonwealth status, which was considered to confer significant economic benefits. A second aspect of the conventional wisdom on Puerto Rico contends that Puerto Rico would eventually "catch up" with the United States economically before being admitted as a state, with commonwealth as a temporary status serving to transition the island into statehood. Puerto Rico is, indeed, relatively successful in comparison to the Caribbean islands and Latin America. However, given its close economic, geographic, and political association with the United States, Puerto Rico should be converging to the United States, instead of to the less developed economies of the Caribbean and Latin America. Evidence clearly shows that Puerto Rico is not converging to the same end point as the United States; and is instead diverging away from the United States towards a lower end point. These data imply that commonwealth has not been the economic saving grace that it was thought to be and that Puerto Rico will not catch up to the U.S. as a commonwealth. Figure 3 clearly indicates that Puerto Rico has failed to converge, or catch up with the US economy since The graph shows Puerto Rican per capita GDP and GNP expressed as a percentage of the same US figures. From 1955 to 1972, the island economy grew faster relative to the US, in terms of both GNP and GDP. However, since 1972, Puerto Rico has under-performed the US economy, making only a minimal gain in terms of GDP and falling further behind in GNP Hitch, Islands in Transition, at page 181. Lefort, Is Puerto Rico Converging with the US? Figure 3a, page 10. Puerto Rico: The Economic and Fiscal Dimensions page 15

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